The Minister of Information and Communications, Dora Akunyili, yesterday got more than she bargained for when Enerique Fernando Arrundell, the Venezuelan Ambassador to Nigeria, used the opportunity of his visit to her office to tell Nigerians some hard lessons on how to manage, develop and utilise their God-given natural resources for the benefit and good of all.

The envoy, who was responding to an appeal by Mrs. Akunyili to help woo some of his country’s investors to come in and establish refineries under the federal government’s planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the nation’s petroleum industry, advised Nigeria to rather look inwards and to take full control of the industry.

“All Leadership is influence.” — John C. Maxwell

Nations and organisations suffer when there are no leaders. When you have zealous people who occupy positions; who throw their titles around but cannot mobilize others toward a goal, that Nation or organisation pays dearly for it.

Because a man occupies a leadership position does not make him a leader. Because he bears the title of a president, CEO, or whatever does not make him a leader, titles don’t guarantee performance. If a man is a leader indeed he will have proofs to back up his position.

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”

— Seneca

“As religion and faith are being driven out of the public square, the Judeo-Christian ethical foundations that have sustained our country since its beginning, are being lost and are being replaced with a humanistic amorality, a self-centered, pragmatic indifference that will ensure that our moral compasses will fail to point us in the right direction in the future.”

— Archie B. Carroll

Professor of Management, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia

Leadership is the process through which an entrepreneur is able to influence employees to achieve the objectives of the organization. To be an effective leader, an entrepreneur must:

1) build trust and confidence among employees and
2) effectively communicate with them.

Leaders can build trust in many ways. They can achieve it by working hard, maintaining a constant message and/or being available to solve employees’ problems among others. By showing employees that they are fully committed to achieving the vision, entrepreneurial leaders build trust and confidence in employees. This in turn yields high employee satisfaction and commitment.

“If I am through learning, I am through.” — John Wooden

Irrespective of your field of endeavour, “I am still learning”. That should be the worthwhile motto of any leader who wants to remain relevant. Any leader who graduates from learning, graduates from purposeful leadership.

The reasons are obvious. Firstly, the times are changing, the society is changing; so are the challenges we face in life. To refuse to change is to be chained in irrelevance.

While the core of our values does not change, our methods must. While our principles may not change, our approach and presentations must be constantly reviewed. What worked in the 19th centurymay not work that well in the 21st century.

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“Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”

— Harry Truman

Over the past few weeks I have had to reflect on so many leadership issues, why is one nation doing fine and the other isn’t? Why would one business flourish and the other is struggling to stay afloat? Why is one state undertaking huge developmental projects that will impact lives and another complains and give excuses for non-performance. I wanted answers and the thoughts couldn’t just go away.